Giving Voice is a national campaign led by the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists which aims to demonstrate how speech and language therapy makes a difference to people with speech, language and communication needs, their families, and wider society.
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Giving Voice

Wednesday, 30 December 2015

On Friday 11th
December we hosted the Leeds Voice Box final at Parklands Primary School. It went
really well and I was so proud to have been part of it. Three schools competed
for the Leeds title and all the children told great jokes. The two visiting
schools brought their schools winner and runner up and we show cased a few of
our runners up from our November competition. Chris Dyson, Head Teacher, gave a
very warm welcome to our visiting schools and started the afternoon off
brilliantly.

It was our delight to welcome Richard
Burgon, MP for Leeds East to join our judging panel once again (this time after
spending the whole afternoon with the school council). He was joined by Janet Addison,
Head of Speech and Language Therapy and CAHMS (Leeds Community Healthcare) and
Maureen Carr (who was invited following lots of generous donations of Christmas
gifts to the school).

Tilly and Tom also joined in the afternoon by sitting with the judging panel, looking very festive in their Christmas jumpers. They enjoyed listening to the jokes and meeting the judges (and posing for a few photos too!)

The judging panel with Tilly and Tom

During the build up to the big
day I decided it would nice if each of the finalists had a trophy so I ordered
two more and kept my fingers (and toes!) crossed that they would arrive in
time. On the Friday morning I received an email stating that the trophies would
arrive between 14.26 and 15.26 that day! Voice Box was taking place 2-3pm so I asked
the lady in the office to alert me if they arrived while we were still in the
hall. Half way through the show I saw
her waving at me from outside the hall with two trophies in hand! I was so
excited and quickly left the hall to get them from her.

One of the winners trophies

I was delighted that we were able
to give each of the winners a trophy for making it to the Leeds final.
Following the jokes from all of the children, the judging panel deliberated the
important decision of overall Leeds winner while we listened to Year 4 sing
Mamma Mia.

Richard Burgon made an
inspirational speech and talked passionately about Leeds, the people living
there and Parklands Primary School. He also announced that after spending the
afternoon with the school council that he would like to invite them to visit
the Houses of Parliament at Westminster. He also took the time to write to each
of the 41 children from the November Parklands Voice Box competition. Richard
then announced the winner, as decided by the judging panel. While he was
talking each of three finalists were sat on the stage, fingers crossed, looking
very hopeful they would be the lucky winner. I felt so proud of our team effort
to make the afternoon so enjoyable for everyone, and was glad that each of the
3 children would leave with a trophy. Richard announced the winner and then
presented each of the three finalists with a trophy, followed by the runners up
with a medal.

One of the letters from Richard Burgon

Our year 5 Parklands winner, won
the Leeds title with his brilliant joke about Princess Potatoes. Each of the winners from the three schools have been individually
entered into the national competition and we look forward to hearing whether we
have been shortlisted for the Westminster final.

I have received lots of positive feedback
from the schools that took part and those who attended the Voice Box final. One
of my SLT colleagues from one of the other schools said that their 2 girls were
buzzing all the way home and their winner was telling everyone who would listen
than she came second and showing them her trophy.

I have thoroughly enjoyed being
involved in Voice Box, from the lunch time joke clubs, joke workshops,
rehearsals and live performances. It has also been a fantastic opportunity to work even more closely with the schools fabulous SENCO (Laura) and Head Teacher (Chris), both of whom worked tirelessly to ensure Voice Box ran smoothly. It has also been great to get other schools
involved and have the support of the local MP.

I am changing my NHS role in
Leeds from January so I will no longer be working in Parklands Primary School.
It has been a fantastic project to be involved in during my last term there and
I hope that there will be opportunity to visit them again soon! I also hope that
there will be opportunity to get schools involved in Voice Box again next time
round!

Chris Dyson (Head Teacher), me, Tilly, Maureen

I can’t believe we are almost at
the end of another year. It’s been another busy one and I’ve loved every
minute! I started the year on a temporary NHS contract and am delighted that I
am ending the year on a permanent contract – looks like I will be in Leeds
longer than planned after all.

I enjoyed talking at the RCSLT Webinar on Political Engagement in July and then building on this further by
developing links with the Leeds East MP through Voice Box. I have put feelers
out in my team about us raising awareness of Giving Voice and SLT and we will
be following this up in the New Year.

I am looking forward to seeing
what 2016 will bring and wish you all lots of health and happiness for the New
Year.

Monday, 30 November 2015

I was so proud of the staff and students at school last week.
Voice Box went really well and everyone enjoyed it! The children have worked so
hard to learn and rehearse their jokes and all did brilliantly on stage! 41
children performed their jokes in front of a hall packed with children,
parents, staff and the judging panel. Our judges included Michael Harvey from
Business in the Community, Trevor Frost from TD Stockbrokers, Richard Burgon,
MP for Leeds East and Harry Gration from BBC Look North!

The week leading up to Voice Box was busy with helping
children to prepare and practice their jokes. I did some additional rehearsal
sessions with some of the children on my caseload who needed a little bit more
specialist support with practising.

Over the half term holidays there was a competition for the
children to design a poster advertising the event. There were lots of creative
entries and the winner got a £10 gift card. All the posters have been displayed
around school in the week leading up to Voice Box and the children were eagerly
counting down to the big day!

On the Thursday afternoon we had a complete run through of
all the jokes, to check the children were happy with what they were doing and
to help them with projecting their voices etc. We also wanted to check that no
one had changed their joke from the original entry (which only happened a
couple of times!)

On the morning of Voice Box Laura (SENCO) and I decorated
the hall ready for the afternoon. Laura bought some lovely star bunting and I
had blown up some balloons. We put the medals and winner’s trophy on a table at
the front and I put the Giving Voice pop up banner in the middle of the stage.

We set up a table for the judges near the front of the hall,
decorated with vases of fresh flowers, Giving Voice goody bags and chocolates!
Each of the judges also had a record sheet to score each of the children’s jokes to
help them remember when they were choosing the winner!

My dad made calendars for each of the judges with facts about SLT on each month and some fab photos that he has taken himself.

All of the children were brilliant and so enthusiastic. The
rest of the school enjoyed watching and it was a really lovely afternoon.

Harry Gration talked about how welcome we’d made him feel
and how much he enjoyed the tour of the school before the competition began.

Before the winner was announced Chris (Head Teacher) said Thank
You to me for bringing Voice Box to school and Harry Gration presented me with
a beautiful bouquet of flowers! I thought this was very sweet and the flowers
are still looking lovely now.

The winning joke was brilliant and performed with enthusiasm
(and props!) I submitted this to RCSLT earlier in the week and wish him lots of
luck in making it to the Grand Final at Westminster.

Following the event there has been a lot of Twitter activity
including from the judges. Harry Gration also mentioned the school on BBC Look
North that night which was very exciting for us all!

Laura posted on Facebook that night and mentioned that
Speech and Language Therapy Transforms Lives! I thought this was lovely and
every mention helps to get the message out even further.

I love how much of a team effort it has been and it would
not have been possible without the enthusiasm of the head teacher and SENCO
Laura. The children have loved it and are still telling jokes. It’s brilliant
how it has got everyone communicating in such a positive way.

We are hosting the Leeds final on Friday 11th
December and are looking forward to doing it all again! It’s not too late to
get your school involved – my niece’s school did their whole Voice Box
competition in a day so it doesn’t have to take a lot of planning. Further
details can be found on the RCSLT Giving Voice website.

Wednesday, 11 November 2015

Just over a week until our Voice Box competition and
planning and preparation is truly under way. We will be spending the coming
days shortlisting the children who will be performing at our competition next
week and allowing them time to practice delivering their jokes. We are all very
excited as BBC Look North are coming.

The lunch time joke clubs and joke workshops (on No Pens Day)
have all been going really well and it’s lovely to see the children’s
enthusiasm for telling jokes. The joke workshops also highlighted which
children struggled with the concept of jokes and those whom found it difficult to
understand the jokes due to the vocabulary (e.g. many of them struggled with ‘Why
did the boy go to bed with a pencil? So he could draw the curtains!). This
allowed opportunity to talk about what makes a joke funny and also explore some
of the vocabulary they didn’t understand (i.e. duel meaning of draw in this
example).

I cannot walk down the corridor at break time without a
child telling me they have a joke. It’s also lovely to hear the children
telling jokes to each other and I’d like to think this is something that will
continue after Voice Box is over!

My niece is telling her school about Voice Box tomorrow
in assembly and they are having their competition on Friday (with tomorrow
night to think about their jokes!) I am so proud that Toni has taken this into
school and asked if they can take part. It’s not too late for you to do the
same!

Last Friday, my dad hosted a launch of his new DVD ‘The
Spirit Lives on’ (about Ashington Coal Company) and a preview was screened at
the new community cinema in Ashington. He invited Ian Lavery, MP to the event
and I was delighted to have the opportunity to chat to him again. He said he
noticed on Twitter that I met Richard Burgon and told me to keep up the good work.
I told him about why I met Richard and about my involvement in Voice Box in
Leeds. Not wanting to miss an opportunity, I gave him another Giving Voice pen and got a photo with him. I told him
I brought another pen for him in case his previous ones ran out and he said the
last one had just before he left the house! Haha. It was nice to see him again,
and see him continue to support the local community. It was a lovely evening
and I was proud to be there and support my dad.

Ian Lavery, MP and me

I am looking forward to the next week and getting ready for
Voice Box! The children have worked so hard and I am looking forward to hearing
them perform their jokes on stage! Thank you for reading!

Friday, 16 October 2015

Today started off as any other work day… I snoozed my alarm as
many times as I could before finally getting out of bed and making my must have
cup of tea! I then somehow managed to
spill half a bottle of milk all over the carpet. I was so annoyed but my
grandma always used to say ‘there’s no point crying over spilt milk’ (this time
literally!) so I cleaned it up, didn’t cry and got on with my day. I may not
have started the day quite as successfully as I would have liked but I was
determined not to let it make a bad day for me.

I had a good (and busy!) day at work – my spilt milk a
distant memory! After work I headed to meet Richard Burgon, MP for Leeds East
to follow up the letter I sent him on behalf of school a couple of weeks ago.

I arrived at Corpus Christi Club at 5pm with a copy of the
letter, Giving Voice pens and a leaflet. There were a few people there waiting
already so I sat down and waited. I began to feel a little nervous while I was
waiting but I was excited too!

When Mr Burgon arrived he greeted us all and the first thing
he noticed was my Giving Voice badge! (asking what it was). I always like to
wear my Giving Voice badge as people often ask me about it which gives me
opportunity to tell them about Speech and Language Therapy.

I waited about an hour before it was my turn to go in but the
meeting was worth the wait! I explained that I had written to him a couple of
weeks ago about being a judge for Voice Box at the school I work in as part of
my NHS role. I explained that I wanted to meet him in person to explain what
the competition is about. I told him about the national competition and the
grand final being held at Westminster. I also invited him to be a judge at our
school Voice Box and also the Leeds final competition that we are also hosting.

Mr Burgon was interested in the competition and also my role
as a Speech and Language Therapist. I told him about Giving Voice and how I
have been involved since the beginning of the campaign, including my involvement
with my MP back home. He correctly guessed that home was the North East (I’ve
no idea what gave it away… ;) ) He then tried to guess the MP (and after I
narrowed it down to Northumberland he quickly guessed correct with Ian Lavery.)
He told me he is good friends with Ian
Lavery and has known him for a long time (Since before they were both MPs) –
small world!

I gave Mr Burgon a Giving Voice pen (he was very pleased with
this…everyone loves a pen!) and left him with a copy of the letter and a Giving
Voice leaflet. I was delighted that he has agreed to attend both of our Voice
Box competitions and I look forward to meeting him again next month.

Planning for Voice Box is going really well - I had my first
lunch time joke club yesterday with 11 children from year 4 and year 6. Tilly
and Tom helped us and enjoyed thinking of jokes too (you can find them here on
Facebook and here on Twitter). The children really enjoyed it – we spent time
thinking of and looking for jokes. Each child chose their favourite one and
shared it with us at the end of the club. We are also doing joke workshops on
our No Pens Day next week to continue to inspire the children!

I tweeted Mr Burgon (and Mr Lavery) when I got home and I
look forward to welcoming him to our school in November. I was excited to see that Mr Burgon tweeted about meeting me this evening!

We also have other exciting
guests at our school competition and I am really excited about how well it is all
coming together. The staff in school are really embracing it and the children
keep stopping me in the corridor to tell me jokes. I love how much it is getting
everyone talking and thinking of jokes.

I love my job and the lovely children I work with. Speech
and Language Therapy Transforms Lives <3

To find out more about Voice Box and to get involved visit
the Giving Voice website. Also why not invite your own local MP to the competition. I am so
glad I decided to go along and meet our local MP this evening – a brilliant ending
to a day that started off a little sour!

Thursday, 8 October 2015

Just a quick update tonight...I'm so busy and time is flying by! Planning for Voice Box is well underway and the children
have already started thinking of jokes. I’m also planning some activities for
our No Pens Day later this month. It was National No Pens Day Wednesday
yesterday but we have decided to do it on the last day of this half term. It’s
all very exciting and I can’t wait to write more but for now I am going to tell
you about my latest project.

Last weekend when I went home to Northumberland these two
beautiful children were there to greet me.

They moved to Leeds with me on
Sunday and have already settled in nicely.

They started school on Tuesday and
already they feel like family! The children in school absolutely love them (as
do the adults!). Tilly even got her very own school uniform yesterday and
quickly gave up her dummy (as she’s much too old for one now!)

Gosh...don't they grow up quickly!

I have set up a Facebook page to share their story and to
use it as a way of raising awareness of Speech and Language Therapy in a fun way.
I am hoping they might even have some jokes of their own for Voice Box ;)

Find Tilly and Tom on Facebook and Twitter and follow their
story. Please do interact with them - I just know that they will love to hear from you! J

Thursday, 24 September 2015

Already a few weeks into a new term, I don’t know where the
time is going! The nights are getting longer, leaves are changing colour and
everyone is beginning to talk about Christmas parties…where did the summer go?

I love Autumn, it’s one of my favourite times of year. I
love the crisp air and the pretty colours though I’m not so keen on the shorter
days and the colder weather.

The autumn term is one of the longest so it’s nice to have something
to look forward to. As part of my NHS role I am based in a primary school most
of my week and we have decided to take part in the national Voice Box
competition.

The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists have
teamed up with The Communication Trust to run this year’s Voice Box
competition. It encourages schools to hold a joke-telling competition and
submit the winning joke to RCSLT with 10 pupils being shortlisted and
invited to the final which is to be held at Westminster!

I am extremely excited to be involved in this, encouraging children
to create jokes and enjoy the fun side of communication! We are holding Voice Box in school and are going to invite the local MP to be on the judging panel. We have also set a date to host a Leeds wide final at school too!

We plan to use some time on No Pens Day for the children to
think of jokes. I am talking at the school assembly tomorrow to introduce them
to Voice Box and No Pens Day. I am looking forward to this new experience and
inspiring the children to explore their funny side!

If you work in a school or know someone who does why not
suggest Voice Box to them? It’s a great way to enjoy the fun aspects of communication,
building confidence and self-esteem. Further details can be found here
and there are lots of resources to help you plan the event.

Thursday, 16 July 2015

As I mentioned in my previous post RCSLT invited me to be a guest
speaker at a webinar (online seminar) event in London last week and I was honoured
and delighted to attend. The webinar GivingVoice: local heroes make national champions: engaging with MPs, aimed to
share information about what RCSLT has done and is doing to influence parliamentarians
and to share best practice examples of local influencing.

I set my alarm early on Friday
morning ready for my train to London! I'd packed my Giving Voice bag with goodies the night before!

While at the train station I got talking
to a homeless man and I bought him a hot drink as he was so cold. He was so
grateful and was glad that I stopped to have a chat. Conversation is free and I am always happy to talk to people; it
was nice to put a smile on someone’s face so early on a Friday morning when
everyone was just rushing past. It’s sometimes the simple things that mean the
most, and I felt this was the start of a positive day. After our chat I headed
to get my train, enthusiastic about the day ahead.

I wore my
Giving Voice badge on my bag, ready to engage any unsuspecting fellow train
travellers in a conversation about Speech and Language Therapy, but I was sat
on my own so I just read my notes and rehearsed my speech in my head instead!

I have spoken at a number of
events about Speech and Language over recent years but this was my first
experience of speaking at a webinar. Not sure what to expect, I arrived
slightly apprehensive but the staff at RCSLT quickly put me at ease as they
talked through the running order of the day and explained how the equipment
worked. The practice run through of the webinar was useful to listen to the
other speakers before we went live. This was also helpful to get to know the equipment
and get used to wearing the headset and mic.

We had a working lunch and it was
nice to chat more to the other speakers. We also had time for a quick photo
with Kamini Gadhok, CEO of RCSLT.

The Webinar speakers with Kamini Gadhok

The webinar was live online at
1pm and RCSLT members began logging on 10 minutes before, ready to engage in
the session. Derek Munn, Head of Policy and Public Affairs at RCSLT chaired the
meeting and welcomed everyone to the event.Peter Just, Public Affairs advisor at RCSLT was the first speaker and explained
the importance of engaging with MPs and what RCSLT have been doing and plan to
do to continue keeping Speech and Language Therapy on the agenda.

I was the next speaker and I
shared my experiences of engaging with my MP (Ian Lavery) from the first meeting in
constituency to meeting him in London during a Mass Mobilisation event and
inviting him to local events I organised in constituency.

Rachel Clare, student SLT at UCL
shared her experience of her involvement in ‘The Great Letter Writing
Challenge’ where students from the Giving Voice society wrote to MPs in the
lead up to the general election about the RCSLT manifesto asks.

Janet Cooper, SLT manger, told us
how Stoke Speaks Out engaged with local MPs to help shape the local decision
making and successfully prepare for the future. It was interesting to listen to Janet's experience and how influencing can really have such a positive impact!

I enjoyed taking part in the
webinar, meeting the other speakers and hearing about their experiences too. It
has reignited my passion for raising awareness of the profession and I hope to
continue spreading awareness of the valuable work of SLTs in Leeds also. I am
hoping we can get schools involved in national joke telling competition ‘Voice
Box’ in the autumn term, which is organised by RCSLT and The Communication
Trust. I look forward to sharing future involvement here on my blog.

After the webinar I had a little
bit of time before my train so I went for a walk along London Bridge and had an
ice cream in the sunshine! I always enjoy visiting London and even managed a quick
cuppa with my cousin Kirsty who lives in London, before catching the train back
to Leeds.

Tower Bridge

The RCSLT webinar is available to
view online here if you are interested in finding out more. I hope it inspires you to get involved in local influencing! Don’t forget to
ask RCSLT for any support you need, or to share your experiences with them.

Wednesday, 8 July 2015

We are more than half way through
the year! I do not know where the time is going! I am still working hard in
Leeds and thoroughly enjoying my job.

A few weeks ago a friend (and
fellow Speech and Language Therapist), Charlotte and I went to Holy Trinity Church to celebrate
the Giving Voice choir’s 1st birthday. Giving Voice is an inclusive
choir for adults with neurological conditions and their carers. It was launched
in June 2014 and was formed by Speech and Language Therapist, Wendy Neill. I
really enjoyed their Christmas performance and was looking forward to seeing
and hearing them perform again to celebrate their first birthday.

The evening began with an
introduction from Wendy Neill and then the choir began with a lovely
performance of ‘We like to sing’. Guests were provided with a song book so we
could join in with the songs too. It was clear that everyone was enjoying
themselves and it was lovely to be there to celebrate their first birthday.

Wendy thanked a number of people
at the end of the first half of performances before the interval. Following
this Thea Stein, Chief Executive of Leeds Community Healthcare, then thanked
Wendy for her hard work and dedication to the choir.

No birthday party is complete
without a buffet, drinks and birthday presents. During the break there were
refreshments and an opportunity to buy raffle tickets for the chance to win one of
the beautifully wrapped birthday gifts.

The choir then sang another
selection of songs before the raffle was drawn and we all sang happy birthday!
Sadly, I didn’t win a birthday present, but I did have a lovely evening
listening to the choir sing in the church. We signed the visitors book and had
some birthday cake before we left. If you are in Leeds and haven’t seen the
Giving Voice choir perform, it’s definitely a nice evening’s entertainment and
I will look out for future performances.

Speaking of birthdays it’s 4
years this month since I started this blog and this post is my 100th
post. In July 2011 when I decided to start this blog I didn’t think I would
write so much! I am so pleased that people have been interested, and read it and
can’t believe it has had over 27,000 page views! Hopefully the second half of
the year will bring more opportunities to blog and spread awareness of Speech and Language Therapy!

Sunday, 12 April 2015

I have no idea how it’s April and
this is the first Giving Voice blog post I’ve written this year! Time flies
past so quickly! I am still working hard and loving working as a Speech and
Language Therapist.

As I am sure you are all aware,
the general election is rapidly approaching (if you are not aware of this,
where have you been hiding!). This is a very important time for the country and
a perfect time to raise awareness of Speech and Language Therapy with local
candidates to ensure that it remains on the political agenda.

RCSLT are asking members to write
to local candidates to ensure that newly elected MPs are aware of the
importance of SLT. You can find out more about this on the RCSLT Giving Voice
website here http://givingvoiceuk.org/general-election-2015/

RCSLT are calling on the
political parties ‘to support early identification of speech, language and
communication needs’, and ‘ensure equal access to Speech and Language Therapy
support’. It will only take a few minutes out of your day to help contribute to
this important campaign. I have previously developed good working foundations
with the current MP for Wansbeck (Ian Lavery) and it really is not as scary as
you might think!

We all have a voice, and more
importantly we all have a right to make our voices heard. Last month I saw
Paloma Faith, live in Newcastle, and I was really pleased that she used her tour
as an opportunity to remind everyone of the importance of using your vote as people
have fought for this right for us in the past. I couldn’t agree more and I
think it’s really good that she used the opportunity of an arena full of people
to remind people that we can use our voice by voting (without taking anything
away from the concert). So don’t forget to vote on 7th May, and
write to local candidates in the mean time!

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About Me

My name is Julie Cota and I am a Speech and Language Therapist. I have been involved in the Giving Voice campaign since 2011 :-) I am passionate about the profession and supporting people with communication difficulties reach their full potential. I'm always smiling and like to talk A LOT! :-) Thanks for checking out my blogs!